


Spooky Mulder: The Revenge

by RoseThornhill



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Baby Fic, Baby Names, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Halloween, Happy Ending, Post-Finale, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 13:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15050639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseThornhill/pseuds/RoseThornhill
Summary: Mulder is ecstatic when he discovers his and Scully's baby will be born on Halloween. And thus begins the debate over names. A light, frothy, happy fic. Partially inspired by a Twitter discussion about when Scully's due date is.





	Spooky Mulder: The Revenge

**October 1st, 2018**

Scully found Mulder on the couch, watching some ridiculous old monster movie. He seemed almost surprised when she came in.

"You're late."

"I know, I'm sorry. I had another doctor's appointment before I left the hospital today."

"You are going to be terrible at this maternity leave thing - wait a second." Mulder's voice filled with concern and he jumped to Scully's side. "Doctor's appointment? What's wrong?" He tried to usher her to the couch, but she resisted.

"Nothing! I'm fine. It was just a regular checkup," she insisted. She played annoyed, but secretly she loved having Mulder there to dote on her, worry over her. "I just wanted to have another appointment while I was still at the hospital." Mulder still looked worried, so Scully added this little tidbit: "This way, I don't have to go for an appointment next week. We can spend all week together, in bed...."

Mulder wrapped his arms around Scully, stroking her bulging belly gently. Scully relaxed into him, luxuriating in his tender touch. He nuzzled her neck, kissing her delicately, pulling her closer to him... shit.

Scully pulled away. "This baby is already putting the kibosh on our couple time," she groaned as she ran to the bathroom. Mulder chuckled. Every time.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," she yelled from the bathroom. "Since I'm a high-risk pregnancy, the doctor has decided to schedule me for a C-section."

"Can I still be there when she is delivered?" Mulder asked, worried. He wants to see his baby daughter the moment she comes into this world.

"Of course. Oh, but you'll like this: the C-section has been scheduled for October 31st. Halloween."

Scully came out of the bathroom, ready to pick up where they left off - and found Mulder was gone.

***

Mulder returned home a couple hours later, arms laden with shopping bags.

"Where the hell did you go?" Scully was legitimately annoyed.

Mulder held up a onesie that said "Daddy's Little Monster" on it. "We're going to have a Halloween baby!" Scully had to laugh at his excitement. She started going through the shopping bags, and found them _full_ of monster-themed baby goodies: ABC books starring monsters; a stuffed sasquatch; crib sheets with brightly-colored creatures; monster jammies; a baby-sized black satin cape; even a pacifier that looked like vampire teeth.

"Now," Scully said, a twinkle in her eye, "let's pick up where we left off."

 ***

Between the pregnancy sex and the knowledge that she didn't have to be at work, Scully slept soundly into the late morning. Mulder was already awake and she could hear him working on the nursery. The bed was warm and cozy, and she smiled into the blankets, listening to Mulder doing daddy stuff in the other room. She was ready to go back to sleep when the baby kicked her bladder, forcing her out of bed.

After her trip to the bathroom, Scully padded down the hall and peeked into the nursery. Mulder had been... busy. The room had been repainted from minty green to pale orange. Little jack-o-lantern faces created a border near the ceiling. The theme - once a jungle theme - had been changed to child-friendly classic monsters. Curtains were up, pictures were on the wall, toys lined the shelves, and Mulder was halfway through building the crib.

"How long was I asleep?" Scully asked teasingly. Mulder jumped.

"I know, I know, we decided on a jungle theme. But we are going to have a Halloween baby..." Scully cut him off with a laugh.

"It's ok, Mulder. It's cute. I like it." She was just happy to have him there to experience fatherhood.

"I love Halloween. _Love_ it," Mulder said with boyish enthusiasm. "It was my favorite holiday when I was little. Samantha and I would trick-or-treat until our bags burst. Literally - one time Samantha's bag split open! We could only take home what we could fit in my firefighter's hat. But I was a good brother; I shared my candy with her," he assured Scully. "Then we would go home and watch scary movies and eat candy until our sugar crash knocked us out." Scully liked hearing Mulder's happy childhood memories. He had so few, and it was only in the last few months that he could recount memories of Samantha with a smile on his face. But she - and the baby - were hungry.

"Let's have breakfast." She checked her watch. "Ooh, make that lunch."

***

**October 8th, 2018**

Another lazy afternoon, watching mindless television. Scully laid on the couch with her head in Mulder's lap, a bowl of popcorn perched precariously on her belly.

"Should we discuss baby names?" Scully asked.

"Yeah, I guess we should. Otherwise she could end up with a name like 'Fox,'" he teased.

"Would you like to name her after Samantha?" She broached this name cautiously, hoping that his happiness from the Halloween story would hold.

"No. I have spent too much time chasing Samantha. I don't want to think of her every time I look in our little girl's eyes. She needs her own name. No Samantha. And no Melissa."

"Agreed." Scully thought a moment. "Jessica?"

Mulder wrinkled his nose. "I had a girlfriend in high school named Jessica... it didn't end well."

"It never does," Scully said dryly. "What about Charlotte?"

No. Mulder's turn. "Laurie?"

No. "Megan?"

No. "Lynda?"

No. "Hayley?"

No. "Annie?"

These names all sounded very familiar to Scully. She rolled them around in her head until she realized where she had heard them. "Mulder, are you just naming off all the female characters in _Halloween_?"

"Um... no..." he said unconvincingly.

"Mulder!"

"She's going to be a Halloween baby!" he exclaimed defensively.

Scully rolled her eyes. "Why don't we just name her Spooky Mulder and let it be done."

"But that's my nickname!" Mulder whined good-naturedly. "How about Spooky Mulder: The Revenge?"

***

**October 13th, 2018**  

Grocery shopping. Scully was amazed at how much she enjoyed the little errands that normally drove her crazy. Then again, everything was better with Mulder. A sudden wave of emotion rolled over her, and she squeezed his hand.

"What is it? Are you ok? Is there something wrong with the baby?"

Scully smiled. He was so protective. "No, I am just having a nice time with you, that's all."

"We're just grocery shopping," he said, casually tossing in two packages of Oreos. Scully caught him.

"One," she insisted. Mulder scowled, put one package back, and allowed her to lead them to the produce section.

"Have you thought any more about names?" she asked, picking out tomatoes.

"I thought we were going with Spooky Mulder: The Revenge!"

Scully answered with a classic eye roll. "What about Caroline?"

"Meh. What about Rosemary?"

"As in _Rosemary's Baby_?" Scully did not see the humor in that.

"Marion?"

"Like Marion Crane, who gets slaughtered in _Psycho_?"

"Nancy?"

"You are not going to give up on a horror movie character, are you?"

"Scully, we are having a **Halloween** baby! Speaking of which..."

He ran off, leaving her in the produce section. Same old Mulder, always leaving her somewhere. He returned a minute later, arms laden down with a dozen bags of fun-size candy bars.

"You do realize we won't be home to pass out candy, right? Besides, I don't think we have ever had a trick-or-treater."

"We have to leave a bowl of candy on the porch - just in case. Besides," he said with a grin, "I will make sure it won't go to waste."

***

**October 22nd, 2018**  

The nursery was ready for a baby. There was nothing left to do. Mulder needed a new project. So he took to decorating the yard for Halloween. Scully found him setting up gravestones, taking care to tilt each one to the perfect, not-perfect angle. She wanted to play the name game again.

"Frances?"

"Are you giving birth to a grandmother?" he asked, taking a sip of the proffered lemonade.

"Julia?"

"Sidney." Scully wrinkled her nose at this suggestion. "It's not like I am suggesting Elvira," he pointed out. "Sidney's a normal name."

"Cheryl."

"Sally."

"Christine."

"Regan."

"Maya."

"Ripley."

"Emma."

"Carol Anne."

"Naomi."

"Barbara."

At that last suggestion - which Scully _knew_ was a name from _Night of the Living Dead_ \- she decided she didn't have the strength to continue this discussion. "I need a nap."

***

**October 30th, 2018**

They made it an early night, getting into bed not long after dinner. Scully was exhausted, and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Mulder couldn't sleep; he read in bed while stroking her hair as she slept.

Wetness in the bed alarmed Mulder and made him shake Scully awake.

"Scully! There's something wrong!"

She woke up slowly, taking a moment to figure out what is going on. "My water broke," she answered.

"But it's early! It's early, right? It's too early."

"By a day, Mulder. It's fine. We'll go to the hospital, they'll do the C-section a little early. It's not a big deal."

While Scully dressed, Mulder packed her a bag. "It was supposed to be a Halloween baby," he grumbled to himself.

***

Nurses took Scully into a room while Mulder filled out the paperwork. "Hey, um, so we actually had an appointment for a C-section tomorrow," he told the nurse. "You know, Halloween. So if you could... you know, leave the baby in for a few extra hours...." The nurse gave him a suspicious look and he decided he had better shut up. 

Mulder couldn't help but check his watch repeatedly. He had gotten so used to the idea of a Halloween baby, he couldn't get the thought out of his mind. That all changed when they went into the operating room. Once the doctors started cutting, all he could focus on was keeping Scully calm and focused.

He clutched her hand and stroked her hair, though he suspected he was doing this to calm himself more than to calm Scully. Scully had a lot of drugs in her. Mulder started the short, sharp breathing he had learned in Lamaze classes, and Scully laughed at him.

“Mulder! That’s only for regular, vaginal birth. It does nothing for the cut-you-open birth!” she announced dopily, then giggled. Wow, whatever drugs they gave her, Mulder wanted some. He felt like he was about to pass out.

Wails of a baby drew Mulder to the other side of the curtain. He watched in awe as the doctor pulled the baby from Scully's womb, and he snipped the umbilical cord with a trembling hand. The nurse took the baby away to clean her up while the doctor stitched up Scully. Mulder couldn't help but follow.

When the baby was clean, the nurse delivered her into Mulder's waiting arms. "Do you have a name yet?"

"No," Mulder said, his eyes full of tears. "Not yet."

"That's ok. You have time. By the way, sir, you made it. You have your Halloween baby."

Mulder glanced at the clock. 12:13 am. He had his Halloween baby.

***

Mulder did not put the baby down once while waiting for Scully to wake in the recovery room.

He couldn't take his eyes off her long eyelashes, her strawberry blonde curls, her teeny tiny fingernails. He was so taken with the little girl, he didn't even notice when Scully woke.

"Hey," she said, trying to swallow her grogginess.

"Hey," Mulder said. He couldn't take his eyes off the baby.

Scully smiled at the picturesque scene before her: Mulder entranced by his infant daughter. _Their_ infant daughter. But after a few minutes, when it didn't seem like Mulder would give the baby up voluntarily, she spoke up.

"Do I get a chance to bond with our daughter, or did I sleep through that opportunity?"

Mulder blushed and quickly brought the baby to her mother. Scully saw that she was dressed in a jack-o-lantern onesie and grinned. "Look at that, not only did I give you a beautiful, healthy baby, I gave you a Halloween baby," she said proudly, before doubt crept into her voice. "She is healthy, right?"

"She is perfect. Just like her mama," Mulder said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

The little family bathed in the happiness of each other for a while. "You know, eventually we have to choose a name," she said.

"What about Margaret? For your mom," Mulder suggested, his voice cracking. "She would have loved having a granddaughter."

Scully's eyes welled, thinking about how her mother wasn't here to meet her granddaughter. She knew that Margaret was important to Mulder, a surrogate mother to him, even if he would never admit it.

"Let's save that for the middle name," Scully said, blinking away a tear.

Mulder nodded in understanding. "How about Amanda?"

"She doesn't look like an Amanda."

"Lucy?"

Scully shook her head. Mulder sighed. "I don't know if you should be allowed to pick a name," he countered. "After all, you named your dog Queequeg. Are you going to name our daughter Stubb?" She laughed, and got a little flutter in her stomach. _Our daughter_.

He tried one more. "Alice."

Scully smiled down at their daughter. "Alice Margaret," she murmured, testing out the name. "Alice Margaret Mulder." Mulder looked at her, surprised. "Don't look at me like that, it's not like _I'm_ taking your name." Mulder smiled and caressed Scully's cheek.

"I like it," she said. "Alice. Like _Alice in Wonderland._ "

"Yeah..." he answered, staring dreamily at his girls. "Alice Margaret Mulder."

He decided not to tell her he got the name from _Resident Evil_.


End file.
